The Blockchain Association was formed following last week`s public statement made by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that warned Indians about using virtual currencies like Bitcoin, as cryptocoinnews.com reported.

“While we have been planning to create an association for some time, we finally pushed things after the circular”, said Saurabh Agarwal, cofounder of Bitcoin trading and wallet company Zebpay in an interview with The Economic Times (economictimes.indiatimes.com).

The Blockchain and Virtual currency Associations of India has been formed by Bitcoin players such as Zebpay, Unicorn, Coinsecure and Searchtrade, as The Economic Times wrote. Their first meeting was held in Mumbai last Friday, while the association is currently in the process of official registration.

“The goal is to have uniform self-regulation amongst ourselves”, said Sathvik Vishwanath, cofounder of start-up Unicorn as quoted by The Economic Times.

Bitcoin is not regulated in India and the regulator “has not given any licence authorisation to any entity company to operate such schemes or deal with Bitcoin or any virtual currency”, as stated by RBI`s notice quoted in The Economic Times.

According to RBI, the creation, trading or usage of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin as a medium of payment are not authorized by the central bank or monetary authority in India. It is also said that Bitcoin users can be subject to cyberattacks and illegal activity, as The Economic Times reported.

The warning comes in a time when Bitcoin`s popularity in the country is growing, especially after Brexit and Donald Trump`s election in the US, The Economic Times wrote.

In the end of last year, India has felt the aftermath of the unprecedented demonetization in the country. The government`s decision was followed by high demands of Bitcoin, while the price of the cryptocurrency reached $985 toward the end of November, explained cryptocoinnews.com.